


A List of Dreams

by soobinsdimples



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: M/M, Prince Choi Soobin, friends to enemies to lovers ?, i don't know how to write i am sorry, i will add more tags when i know more about this story lmfaooo, idk yet, magic?, rebel choi yeonjun, rebel plot ig, this does not have a plot yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:08:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28063722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soobinsdimples/pseuds/soobinsdimples
Summary: Soobin honestly would have rather preferred if his life remained uncomplicated, but a certain pink-haired man with infuriating eyes showed up to upset not only his very uninteresting personal life but also an exceedingly volatile political climate of his beloved country.(Rebel Yeonjun x Prince Soobin AU where shit hits the fan very quickly)this is literally inspired by bb soob's 2019 MMA pictures- you know what i am referring to ;)
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Choi Soobin, Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Kudos: 20





	1. the masked intruder

The world slept, but he was awake. His eyes were closed but his mind still raced against the clock, against the world. 

But he was not, in fact, alone. He was aware of the dark figure silently moving through his room. He dared not move an inch, he would not yet alert the intruder that he was aware of their presence. 

The person moved with a stealth that only came from years of experience. Unaware of their audience, they opened his drawers and rummaged through his belongings, seemingly in search of something, before they shut the drawer, item in hand, and made their way to the window. Clearly, they intended to escape unnoticed.

“Who the hell are you?” He made his consciousness known, sitting up in his bed.

The figure whirled around and their shocked eyes connected with Soobin. Their lower face was covered with a mask, and hair with a cap, distinguishing features wisely hidden. 

But Soobin recognized those eyes from somewhere. 

“How did you get here? What do you want?” 

Frankly, Soobin didn’t care that this person was stealing random valuables from his house. As long as they didn’t know his own true identity.

“Are you going to have me arrested?” The man finally spoke, words drawled and low.

“Possibly. Why even attempt to steal from me when there are people in this palace with much more to be taken?”

“Ah, my mistake. I didn’t realize there were rules for theft.” Was he serious? 

“What did you even take? I own nothing of value.” 

“We both know that is a lie,” (Prince.) The unspoken words rang clear. 

His dark eyes flashed with humor, hand raised in mock salute. He grabbed the rope attached to the open window and hauled his body over, disappearing into the envelope of darkness. 

For a moment, Soobin’s heart dropped, the shock of the situation overwhelming his senses. He stumbled to his chest of drawers, frantically in search of what he, at this point, was certain the thief came for. The pendant, crested with the dragon and the lily, the symbol of the royal family, was gone. The only physical proof of Soobin’s true identity was stolen by the masked man with sharp eyes.

The Kingdom of Theodon was in its Golden Age when Choi Soobin was born, abundant with prosperity and welfare. Much of this was accredited to the laws mandated by the previous king, Soobin’s grandfather, who had ruled with an iron fist but a gentle heart.

In order to lower demand for common goods and to increase per capita wealth, he implemented a two-child policy. This policy was accepted and beloved by the people of Theodon. It meant fewer mouths to feed, and for the majority of the population, the policy was a saving grace. As a reward for following the policy, families were awarded a generous monthly stipend. Conversely, for every additional child a family had, the family was responsible for sending the corresponding number of children to serve in the army. 

Ironically, the very king and queen of Theodon failed to follow the policy, and thus Soobin, the third child and second prince of Theodon. As figureheads of the laws of the kingdom, symbols of what the laws stood for, for his parents to have Soobin was hypocrisy. Soobin himself was a contradiction.

Therefore, to ensure the utmost secrecy surrounding Soobin’s existence, the Queen took a wellness trip to an allied Kingdom, coincidentally around 10 months long, where she was taken care of by a few of her most trusted help. Choi Soobin was to be the best-kept secret of the royal family of Theodon. 

To the outside world, Soobin was the sole son to a second cousin of the King. His parents had perished tragically on a trip, leaving poor, orphaned Soobin to the care of the generous and kind royal family. He was raised by private tutors and caregivers who were sworn to secrecy by the court.

He was present at all the major balls and public events, standing in the sidelines, but in direct line of sight for the media as a reminder of the benevolence of the King.

Soobin was not stupid. He knew that the King and Queen spun his story, his existence, to benefit themselves and reinforce the public’s view of the ruling family. He was a pawn. 

As a pawn, Soobin often went by unnoticed, with higher-ranked officials only wasting a few seconds to acknowledge him at dinner parties before cozying up to his older siblings in order to gain the favor of the people with actual power. But because he often found himself sitting at the sidelines, he had the unique opportunity to listen to the various conversations amongst both supporters and opposers of the ruling family.

Soobin, while a pawn, had more knowledge of the true intentions of Theodonian high society than anyone else. 

And it was because of this, because he knew how merciless the nobility was, how truly insincere their concern for the poor and the weak was, that he decided against informing his father, or anyone, that the outside world was no longer unaware of his identity. 

He attended breakfast with every intention of acting as though there was no intruder in the palace the prior night. Nobody must know what he now knew. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and he was pale as if he were sick, but his family’s attention was diverted elsewhere, as they had visitors from a neighboring kingdom. 

His elder brother, Soohyun, winked at him from across the table before turning to his neighbor, a pretty girl, perhaps a few years older than Soobin, and continued their conversation. Asshole

The bustle in the room was not uncommon. Large breakfasts with many guests was Theodonian tradition. This specific gathering seemed to be political in nature, as his father was accompanied by his Allied Affairs advisor, a rather stout aging man with a handlebar mustache that made him look out of fashion. His father was deep in discussion with a severe-looking woman, with dark hair pulled back into an elegant twist and a slim physique. 

Soobin knew how to act as the elegant and graceful cousin, just barely royalty. The bustle of the servants scuttling around to remove plates and fill goblets lulled him into a relaxed state, nibbling at the feast before him. But his mind remained elsewhere, on the boy, man(?), who had effortlessly evaded the security guard of the highest priority building in the country— 

“... your mind?” 

Sooyoung, his elder sister, smirked at him, having taken her seat at the empty chair next to him. 

“Sorry, what?” 

“I said, is there anyone special on your mind?” 

His heart stopped for a second in fear that his treachery by omission was exposed. But his sister had a penchant for being an open book, and her face betrayed no malice, which meant she thought he had a crush. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He played along. Romance was better than treason.

She shrugged and playfully flipped her dark hair over her shoulder, hitting Soobin in the process. She piled her plate high with breakfast meats and sweetbreads, a meal that was certainly not permitted by their mother. 

He adored Sooyoung, although he would never admit it to her face. She was his best friend, his partner in crime, the person whom he could confide his issues and worries with, his person, and yet, he would keep her in the dark for this one thing. If anything escalated, he would not drag her down. However, he still felt like the biggest pile of horse shit for keeping this from her.

The morning passed uneventfully as he attended his morning private lessons in history and politics, whitewashed to the point that the content only slightly resembled reality. He was lucky today. His tutor was in good spirits to honor his request to spend the time “studying” in the private library, which held books that held stories of the true past. 

He skipped out on lunch, not in the mood to entertain the whims of the upper class who rewrote history to favor themselves, and opted for a nap in his room. 

He wondered if the sharp-eyed intruder was aware that they had somehow lucked out by choosing his room to steal from and if said intruder planned on coming back. Unlikely, as any thief with their wits together would not be foolish enough to step foot into the castle after testing fate’s patience once already. Once bitten, twice shy.

In the afternoon, he was to report to the castle grounds to practice sparring with the other noble youth. Soobin was not fond of sparring, or really any activity that involved violence, no matter how regulated- mainly because he was lazy, but also because he couldn’t ever imagine a scenario where he would need to use fighting skills, considering how high strung his parents were when it came to his safety.

It’s not that he was necessarily bad at it, but he preferred to not waste his energy, and thus often found himself the target of his peers during combat lessons.

That afternoon, he was paired with Shin Sunwoo. 

“Feeling lucky today?” Sunwoo asked, obviously trying to fill the awkward silence Soobin could care less to acknowledge. 

“Not particularly.” It was safer to act aloof than be regarded as a threat. 

“Well, good luck, I guess. I’ll try not to mangle your pretty face.” Sunwoo cheekily added.

Soobin entered the pit, a square-shaped arena boxed in by glass panels. He knew that there was nothing Sunwoo could actually do to harm him and yet, he still felt the steady build-up of nerves press against his throat, fluttering and insistent. 

“Play fair boys, I don’t want to see any blood. First to get the other to fall is the winner.” Their instructor, Kihye, briefed them as if they may actually hurt each other. 

When the alarm went off, Soobin immediately focused on the other, hands sweaty under the fighting gloves. He gripped the wooden sword gingerly, holding it more as a shield than as a weapon. Sunwoo lunged forward, clearly feigning an attack to Soobin’s right side, only to jab from the left, which Soobin easily parried. 

Shocked, Sunwoo lunged again like a predator, this time aiming straight for Soobin’s chest. He dodged the attack and circled around to regard Sunwoo eye-to-eye, egging him on silently, urging him to make another futile attack. Teeth visibly ground, Sunwoo moves with blunt force and the precision of a dull knife, but his determination makes Soobin feel guilty for toying with him, so he takes the next hit and falls. 

At least he helped build up Sunwoo’s confidence.

The thing was, Soobin knew how to fight. He had been training for as long as he could remember and even though he was rather clumsy, not a natural by any means, years of private lessons had made it muscle memory. His instructors bore the essence of defense and attack into his bones and wound him up until his guard never fell. 

But if he displayed his real abilities, people would talk. The safest scenario was when people underestimated and overlooked Soobin, not when they talked about him. Because if they talked, they might realize just how curious his circumstances really were. 

And, he belatedly realized, some people already knew.

He was engrossed in his latest choice of novel, comfortably sprawled across his bed, when he heard his window creak open. 

And there the masked figure sat, legs hanging from the windowsill, eyes ablaze.


	2. Stupid Eyes

The first thing Soobin noticed was that his eyes were literally ablaze, as in they were reflecting fire, as in he was holding open fire. In Soobin’s room. His very flammable room. 

“What the hell- Why is there fire, in your hand, in my room?” 

“Obviously I’m here to assassinate you.” 

He was joking, clearly, but something about his demeanor pissed Soobin off. He hated being played with, and he hated that this person felt safe enough to tease him. 

“Can you give me a straight answer before I have you arrested?”

“Oh you’re touchy today. Too bad you’re not going to have me arrested, right? Because if you wanted to, you would have already alerted your parents and the entire city would be on lockdown.”

Soobin just glared at him, no retort in hand. His brain seemed to numb from his irritation. Definitely not because the man’s eyes looked so devastatingly striking in the glint of the fire. Absolutely not. Stupid Eyes was a fitting name.

“Fine, god, you’re so difficult, holy shit. I’m back to either figure out why you’re not tattling on me or actually assassinate you, but obviously, that isn’t the preferable choice.”

“Obviously.”

“They didn’t say you were sassy, goddamn. So spill, why haven’t you tattled?”

Who’s they? “If I tell you, you have to do something in return.” Soobin wasn’t giving away secrets for free. Not to a thief.

“I am doing something in return: not killing you.” Chuckling at Soobin’s exasperated face, Stupid Eyes added, “Okay, seriously man, chill out. What do you want to know?” 

“Why do you care who I am? How does it benefit you to know my true identity?”

“Technically, that’s two questions.” 

“They’re the same thing basically. Now, please, answer the goddamn question.” He raked his hands through his hair to release some of the ever-present tension in his skull. Now that Soobin knew that his life was, most likely, not in danger, he was mildly less irritated.

Stupid Eyes took a stupid amount of time watching his hands, eyes, those fucking eyes, glinting with an inexplicable emotion, taking his sweet time to think through Soobin’s questions. “I don’t care about your identity, to answer your question. However, I do care about the fact that there is concrete evidence of the royal family’s hypocrisy, and it is in my palm.” 

Soobin’s eyes dropped to his hands, but the only thing present was the fucking magical fire.

“No, not my literal palm, dumbass, but I do have the emblem in my possession, so you don’t have to worry about me selling it or something.” 

“Okay, but-“

“Nope,” Stupid Eyes interrupted, “it's your turn to spill. Why not turn me in?”

Soobin sighed. Whoever this person was, he knew how to grate on his nerves.

”You’ve already answered your own question. I don’t care for my family’s hypocrisy. I don’t care if there is backlash from the public because my family hid this for nineteen years. They didn’t keep this a secret for me. Not to keep me safe, anyway. They used me as propaganda to cover up their own mistakes. So yeah, I didn’t tell them, and I won’t.”

Stupid Eyes blinked at him for a few seconds, taken aback by the straightforward answer.

Soobin was getting impatient. Also, his brain was hurting a surprising amount. 

“Now what? Are you going to kill me or…?”

He burst out in full blown laughter, hopping off the railing and fully entering into Soobin’s room. Soobin immediately stood up in case this person was actually, clinically, insane, and did intend on killing him. But Stupid Eyes, still laughing (seriously what was his deal?), walked straight up to Soobin and faced him. 

Soobin’s brain did not short circuit at the realization that Stupid Eyes, even with the idiotic hat covering his hair, was at least a few inches shorter than him. Soobin’s brain most definitely did not shut down (and are you sure you want to close unsaved files? yes) because of his proximity to Attractive Man Stupid Eyes.

“I have a better idea. One that would require much less cleaning up on my part.” 

It was Soobin’s turn to blink at the other.

“You join us— as an internal agent of sorts.”

Soobin barked out an incredulous laugh, but there was no humor behind it.

“Do you seriously think I would conspire against my own family?”

“Your family doesn’t even acknowledge that you are a part of it.”

“That’s entirely besides the point- they’re my literal flesh and blood. And they do it for my own safety. Why the hell do you think I would betray them in favor of treason?” 

“Well, if you put it that way, I guess my argument is a little flawed.” 

“You’re kidding right? Is this some elaborate prank or hidden camera or something?”

Stupid Eyes’ eyes darkened as he stepped almost imperceptibly closer. He peered down to the somehow still lit flames in intrigue, flickering in and out, dancing to the beat of the electric air surrounding the two.

But Soobin was infuriatingly aware of his physical reaction to his proximity with the other, the growing flush in his neck and his ears and the dizzying feeling of closeness.

He felt like a fool for his inability to control the simplest of emotions. While the other held the stoic face resembling those in his father’s court, he knew that his own face betrayed his emotions and he could do nothing to stop it. Why was this so frustrating? 

“Do I seem like I’m kidding?” 

A valid point. 

”I’ll consider it.”

“Excellent-”

“On one condition: You have to show me your face and tell me your name.” 

For the first time, Stupid Eyes looked less than composed. Though Soobin could not for the life of him read those eyes, he could tell that he had shocked the other with his request.

And then, for the second time that night, Stupid Eyes laughed. He let out a full-bellied, resonant, clear laugh that blew Soobin away, and when he finally sobered up, he wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.

”What an odd request. I thought you would have had better questions stored in that pretty head of yours.” 

“You think that I want to see your face for fun.”

“Why else would that be important?”

A scapegoat. Soobin needed to know who to blame if he was ever caught, and if he knew his face then he could potentially claim that he was coerced into helping them and turn this man in instead. 

“It doesn’t concern you.”

“Obviously it concerns me- it’s my face and name after all.”

“Are you really in the position to be asking me this many questions? I could just decline your offer, what would you do then?”

“I already told you, I would have to kill you.”

“Funny. I’d like to see you try.” 

“How about I show you something more interesting instead?”

“Does it have anything to do with your creepy fire hands that you still have not put out somehow?”

“Jesus, get over the fire hands. They come with the package.” He had the audacity to wink, and fail miserably at that, both eyes (stupid eyes) squeezing shut and crinkling in a manner that was most definitely not adorable. “Let’s go somewhere.” 

“Do you really think I’m actually dumb enough to follow you to my own potential untimely demise? Are you actually that dense?”

“Silly Soobinie.” His blush was because of anger, not because of the nickname. “Why would I take you somewhere and kill you there when I could just snap your pretty neck right here and now? Nobody would know that it was me, nobody even knows I’m here. That seems like a lot of unnecessary effort for a supposed distant cousin of the royal family, who has little to no real power. Even I’m not that extra.” 

He had a point. 

“Where are we going, though?”

“It would be much easier to show you than to tell you- that’s what he said- and honestly I don’t really know how to explain it anyway.” 

Soobin had to think this through. He was unarmed, stupidly, and if he were to try to escape right now, the man could very well kill him. Also, the unexplained fire magic trick could potentially become an issue.

“What’s with the fire?”

“All in good time, child. First, are you in or not?”

“You can’t be much older than me.”

“So?”

“So, don’t call me ‘child,’ or treat me like a child.” 

“Okay.” He couldn’t see Stupid Eyes’ whole face but he could tell that he was smiling. “Child.”

He couldn’t think this through. There were just too many possibilities and dangers and outcomes, and he didn’t have time to weigh all of them. Against his best judgment, something about this man made him a little crazy, bolder, somehow, and that’s why when it came down to it-

“Fine.”

The man blinked. 

And then slowly he blinked again, and Soobin swore he could count his eyelashes. 

“On one condition. At least tell me your name.”

The man let out an airy laugh, still clearly surprised that Soobin agreed. 

“Yeonjun. But you can call me Hyung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello friends, i posted two chapters because this is all i have written but please enjoy and i appreciate any feedback! if you want to shit on my writing please do so!


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